This invention relates to an improved method and filler material for filling the interior of a fluid storage container with an open-cell or reticulated plastic baffle.
Vehicles, such as automobiles, trucks, airplanes, boats, and the like, usually have one or more containers or tanks for holding liquids. Typically, the liquids are free to slosh about within these containers or tanks and to spurt out in the event of accidental rupture of the container. In some cases, the sloshing of free liquid, as for example in a partially filled gasoline tank containing a substantial amount of fuel is hazardous to the operation of the vehicle. The spillage of gasoline or other flammable material upon accidental rupture of the tank may result in flammable destruction of the vehicle. Thus, it is desirable to place baffles within such vehicle containers or tanks, which limit the free movement of the liquid within the container and limit the spurting of the liquid from a ruptured container.
One form of baffle used, for example, in aircraft constructions, comprises open cellular foam plastic material which is chemically inert to the particular liquid within the specific baffled container. However, filling the container with such plastic is relatively difficult and expensive and may require considerable labor for cutting foam plastic to fit within the container or to foam the plastic within the container. In addition, it has not been economically practical to commercially fill with foam plastic, or to enable the ordinary owner of a vehicle to fill, a container or tank within a vehicle after the tank is assembled and installed in the vehicle. Thus, it would be desirable to provide a method and material by which a manufacturer, a repair shop or an individual, without tools or technical training, could readily and quickly form a suitable foam plastic baffle within a vehicle's liquid containers or tanks, including gasoline tanks, windshield washer containers, coolant overflow containers, battery containers and the like, to eliminate liquid sloshing and the hazards due to rapid spurting or release of the liquid in the event of accidental rupture of the container.